On November 10, 2009, Michigan Tech’s Inter-Residence Hall Council hosted a night of comedy in the Ballroom of Douglass Houghton Hall. The night featured performances from two improvised comedy groups, Comedy City De Pere of Green Bay, Wisc and Sofisticada Comedia of Houghton. The two troupes competed against each other for the approval of the audience while performing improvised comedy.
Many different games were included during the performance, including Closed Captions, Musical Rumble, and Sing It. The performance featured a lot of audience interaction with the performers, as well as contributions from the audience for ideas during each game.
In the end, Comedy City De Pere ended up winning the competition, but a good time was had by all of the performers.
“Great crowd,” said Craig Knitt, captain of the Comedy City De Pere team. “They seem to get the edge of jokes better than [many from] back home.”
Similar thoughts were conveyed from the hometown Sofisticada Comedia, composed primarily of Michigan Tech students.
“The audience was one of the best I’ve ever seen here,” said Stephen Bosio, member of Sofisticada Comedia. “This was our first show in Houghton as a group, and we really appreciated the turnout.”
Comedy City De Pere was formed during 1987 in Oshkosh, Wisc. They are currently located De Pere, Wisc. The Group is made up of Craig Knitt, Joe Abrahamson, Tony Mayer, Sean Yahn, and Laurie Bruinooge. If you would like to learn more about Comedy City DePere, please visit their website at www.comedycityonline.com.
Sofisticada Comedia is composed of Stephen Bosio, Cal Wacker, and Mike Mott, all students at Michigan Tech.
on the continued suffering of one child.
While the format initially seemed odd for theater, it was used effectively and the performance was well received by the audience. Most important was the actors’ own success in playing their parts well, without flat reads. Adding to that was dramatic lighting and sound effects to underscore the spoken performances. A screen showing an image to reflect the spoken dialogue finished off the effect.
The Tech Theater Company performs several shows each year. Their next performance will be David Auburn’s “Proof,” which will be shown February 11-13 and 18-19 in the McArdle Theatere.